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American Fingerprints on British-Trained Royal Ascot-Bound Inquisitively

Typically, the names Sangster, Manton, Tattersalls, and British-bred runner at Windsor don't scream `American connections,' but in the case of Inquisitively (GB) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}), peel back the onion a bit and you'll find more than a few stars and stripes among the connections.

Inquisitively, a barely-beaten second at Windsor in his May 29 debut, is entered in Wednesday's Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot, and will carry his owners' hopes as well as a bit of history on his back.

Inquisitively sold for 40,000gns euros at the 2022 Tattersalls October yearling sale from the Glenvale Stud consignment to trainer Ollie Sangster.

“He was a very nice yearling,” said Sangster. “It's easy to say that now. Flash Conroy had bought him as a foal, and he actually had a setback the week before the yearling sale, and was lame at the sale. But he was a very nice model and I know Flash and I liked the horse, so I bought the horse under the condition that if I wasn't happy, they would take him back. But the issue was something of a nothing, something he had done right before the sale, and in a few weeks would right itself. In that respect, he's a horse I never would have been able to afford working with a limited budget, and I was able to buy a much nicer physical that I would have been able to buy.”

American bloodstock agent Justin Casse was at the sale, and had inspected Inquisitively, and also had liked him, but left before Book 2.

“He looked like a very precocious type, great hind quarter, good balance, a very good mover,” said Casse. “And Flash is a tremendous judge with whom I've had a bit of luck. He's actually who I bought (G1 Fillies Mile winner) Pretty Gorgeous from.

He was a nice horse and I thought there was value there. And I'm trying to align myself with young people in the industry who I know who have spent time with great trainers or who have learned from the right people.”

So Casse called Sangster and offered to buy half of the horse from him.

In Sangster's case, those great trainers and right people included Wesley Ward, the first American trainer to ever saddle a winner at Royal Ascot, and who has dominated there in recent years, winning 12 races. Sangster spent several formative years with Ward, working at Keeneland in the spring, taking his Ascot horses over, and then coming back with Ward to Saratoga. He has helped Ward out at every Ascot since 2018.

The family connection between the Casses and the Sangsters goes back even further. Justin's father Norman Casse was the breeder of Beldale Ball, who won the 1980 Melbourne Cup for Sangster's grandfather Robert, and he considered it one of his greatest breeding achievements, said Justin, who was born the year of the win and keeps the plaque given to his father for the achievement hanging in his office today.

“To me, the whole thing is interesting,” said Casse. “I've traveled all over the world. I've won the richest race in South Africa. I've won a Group 2 in Australia. And all these things have come full circle in my life to this connection between young Ollie Sangster and my father who has passed away, and our families, and is still going on. And here we are. We have American connections through Australian connections to running at Ascot and it really is a dream come true. My first experience at Ascot, literally the first race on the first day of the first time I was at Ascot was Tepin winning.” Tepin, who won the 2017 G1 Queen Anne S., was trained by Justin's brother Mark. “That experience was extremely special and continues to grow in significance,” he said.

But if Inquisitively isn't quite Tepin, at least not yet, Sangster is serious about giving him a chance.

“His first start was particularly pleasing because he had a very difficult draw,” he said. “Windsor has a bend in the track and he had drawn 14 and had to move a good few lengths to get across, and did the hard work at the front that day. If he had had a nicer draw, he would have won the race nicely. It was visually quite impressive, the times were good and and subsequently the third and fourth finishers out of that race have won their next start. That has confirmed what the times were showing us. He deserves to have a chance there, and the winner of the race (Chief Mankato {GB} {Sioux Nation}) is going to Ascot himself.”

Sangster will also be the trainer of record for Bledsoe (Iqbaal), who Wesley Ward trained to win the opening race of the spring meet at Keeneland. Ward is also the horse's owner and breeder, and owns and stands his sire. Sangster said that Bledsoe arrived at his training center, Manton, in April with the intention of getting a prep in, and while that hadn't worked out, he'll now go into the Windsor Castle off the Keeneland maiden win.

Sangster said he realized how special it was to have two starters at the meet in his first year of training.

“I think Inquisitively is about 25-1, but if someone had asked me at the beginning of the year what my chances of getting to Ascot were this year, they would have been significantly longer!” he said. “It means everything. The reason we get up at the crack of dawn is to have the winners, and hopefully–not that I've had it yet–but a winner on a big stage. We're a close-knit team, and everyone works really hard, and we're looking forward to having a runner. I think we have a little bit of an each-way chance and it's exciting. Hopefully a few people will notice us.”

Casse said it was hard to imagine how emotional a win would be for him.

“You can't put a price on these experiences even though we try to regularly through the auction ring or private sales. But that doesn't always mean that you're going to get there. So I'm just going to try to make the most of it. And listen, leading into the race, the horse is training well against winners. He has not really put a foot wrong to this point. And from the videos that Ollie sends us, I really couldn't be happier. And then of course, these other horses winning flatters our form. So although I think we're going to go in there probably 25 or 30-1, I just get the feeling that we're going to run a big race.”

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Ollie Sangster to Join Training Ranks

The name Sangster has often been seen among the ranks of owners and breeders, and from later this year it will also feature on a training licence, with Ollie Sangster set to train from his family's historic estate of Manton.

The 25-year-old of course has a background steeped in racing: his grandfather was the legendary Robert Sangster, known with his friends and associates MV O'Brien and John Magnier as 'The Brethren', while his father Ben is also a breeder of note, with Luxembourg (Ire) and Changingoftheguard (Ire) being among his notable current performers.

A former champion amateur rider on the Flat before his height made that pursuit a little tricky, Ollie Sangster's skills in the saddle have most recently been seen in public when accompanying Wesley Ward's runners to post aboard Strike The Tiger, who was tragically killed in a barn fire in March this year.

“I'd say that was probably my most formative time,” says Sangster of his two years spent working for Ward, which had followed stints with David Hayes in Australia and Charlie Hills in Lambourn, as well as a season of yearling prep.

“I think the way the American system works, it's a bit like Australia, you are sometimes thrown in the deep end a bit and get to experience different stables in different states. So I'd say that was the best time for me and I have a great relationship with Wesley.

“I've looked after his international runners for the last three years since then as well and I would say I learned more in my time there than I thought I could have learned in 10 years about hands-on horsemanship. Wesley is a real horseman.”

Sangster initially considered starting training in America, but visa issues prompted a rethink. He succeeded George Boughey as assistant trainer at Hugo Palmer's Newmarket stable before spending the last two years with Joseph O'Brien in Ireland.

“I wanted to spread my wings a bit again and that was really great, actually,” he says of his time at Owning Hill. “Joseph is a good man and great guy to work with; he's a very wise head on young shoulders.”

Now Sangster is out on his own, pounding the yearling sales as he completes the BHA modules required for any aspiring trainer in Britain, with the hope of having everything up and running at Manton by the end of the year.

“I'm going to go to every sale I can and will be trying to pick up a few horses,” he says.

At Manton, he will share the gallops with resident trainers Brian Meehan and Martyn and Freddie Meade, and he already has a good idea of he lie of the land having ridden out there for Meehan since the age of 12.

Sangster continues, “I get on well with Brian, Martyn and Freddie. I've obviously ridden out for Brian and I rode in races for him, and he's been a good family friend. Anything I want to talk about, well you can't beat someone who knows the gallops.

“Martyn has done a lot of work with the gallops. When I was first back not that long ago we'd had all this hot weather and Brian was working a load of horses up the grass, and I thought to myself, 'He's barking mad, it must be like a road'. And lo and behold, I watched them work and it really was beautiful summer ground. It's amazing how good the old turf is.”

One of the other trainers Sangster has been keeping a close eye on of late is Jane Chapple-Hyam as he is a part-owner of her stable star Saffron Beach (Ire) with his mother Lucy and James Wigan. The dual Group 1 winner had originally been bought as a foal for 55,000gns to pinhook until an injured foot meant she missed her subsequent sales engagements.

“It's the luckiest thing ever,” he says. “That's partially what's going to give me the chance to get going here, having had that great ride with her. Obviously, Jane and her whole team have done a wonderful job. It's been an amazing journey and hopefully it's not quite over yet.”

While Chapple-Hyam's stable is rightly thriving on the back of some impressive results, Sangster has more humble ambitions for the launch of his own training career.

“I'm only going to be starting with a small number of horses and we'll just go from there,” he notes. “But it's a real privilege. I'm very lucky, obviously, to be getting a chance to get going here. It's always been a dream of mine and I will see how it goes. That's all you can do: trust in what you've learned, put a few things in place, and make a go of it.”

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Budget-Busting Isaac Shelby Repays Sangster’s Faith

One of the most cheering aspects of an excellent three days of racing for Newmarket's July Meeting was seeing the famous Sangster silks returning to the winner's enclosure aboard a group winner. For racing fans of a certain vintage it is impossible to see those colours originally registered to the late Robert Sangster and not conjure up memories of some of the famous horses to have raced in them, not least the great Sadler's Wells.

How far into the league of great horses Isaac Shelby (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) will venture is unknown at this stage, but he has certainly created a favourable impression to date. His two wins from two runs, including the G2 Superlative S. at Newmarket, led his trainer Brian Meehan to describe him as “the business”, and for the man whose business it was to buy him in the first place and keep the share-holders of his syndicate Manton Thoroughbreds happy, that early success comes as much as a relief as a delight.

Sam Sangster, one of five sons of Robert, is the man in question, and the bloodstock agent-cum-syndicate manager had belief in the horse ever since seeing him as a yearling at the Goffs UK Premier Sale last August. So much so that he broke his own golden rule while attempting to buy him.

“When it comes to buying, you are very much led by the budget,” says Sangster, whose surname naturally conjures up those heady days of the Keeneland yearling sales of the 1970s, when his father, along with MV O'Brien and John Magnier, would light up the bid board well into seven figures, notably in pursuit of the best offspring of Northern Dancer. Sam, however, has enjoyed success selecting decent horses for relatively reasonable sums.

“We have our budgets and we do stick to them. I'd like to say I did that with 'Isaac' but I didn't; I fell madly in love with him and the partnership budget is usually between £50-60,000, so buying him for £92,000 put us on the back foot from the off because we buy six horses every year for the partnership and he was the first one we bought. I was definitely pinched a few times while I was doing the bidding.”

Whether or not it was Meehan doing the pinching is unknown, but the pair work the yearling sales closely together, and the trainer is unlikely to have any financial regrets at this stage when it comes to the promising colt.

Sangster continues, “As with anyone we start with pedigrees, and there are certain types of pedigrees that we like. Older mares we feel are a bit more risky. Brian and I have had a lot of success with the offspring of stallions that have kind of gone past their sexy status but are real workmen's stallions and trainers' stallions. We've managed to identify those over the years and I kind of know the type that Brian likes to buy and train.”

Barraquero (Ire) would be a case in point, a colt from the fourth crop of Zebedee (GB) who ended up being his sire's fourth-top-rated performer following his win in the G2 Richmond S. of 2017. Also trained by Meehan, who now owns part of the Manton estate which has been synonymous with the Sangster family for decades, he was bought from the same sale as Isaac Shelby five years earlier but at a third of the price.

“I hadn't even met Brian when he started at Manton but we had an immediate bond and when I came back from Australia I had a couple of smaller syndicates which Johnny McKeever bought for. A good horse called Faithful Creek got us off the mark, and he was in training for a syndicate called Decadent Racing, which was a bit of fun with a few friends based in and around London. We took him all over, to Deauville, Leopardstown, and then he went to the Breeder's Cup and Dubai after that. We had a lot of fun with him and it was from there that Brian and I decided to step up the syndicate.”

Manton Thoroughbreds, now in its seventh edition and with about 15 members in the partnership, was started in 2015. Smuggler's Moon (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), who subsequently raced as Gold Land in Hong Kong, got the ball rolling with success in the Listed Surrey S. at Epsom on Oaks day the following year.

“The partners hit the ground running really and were able to invest in the second partnership which had Barraquero, and we kind of got our confidence from there,” Sangster recalls. “The partnership with Isaac Shelby we named seven but we have another called Centurion so we've done eight now and have unearthed some nice horses along the way.”

Among the other horses Sangster and Meehan have teamed up with outside Manton Thoroughbreds is Raheen House (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who was bought for 35,000gns at Book 2 of the October Sale and sold on to race for Australian Bloodstock after showing himself to be a progressive stayer with wins in the G3 Bahrain Trophy and Listed Noel Murless S. For Kris Lees, once racing in Australia, he went on to win the G2 Schweppes Chairman's Quality H. at Randwick and finish third in the G1 Sydney Cup, the race which a year earlier had been won by his full-brother Shraaoh (Ire).

The duo struck again last year with Hannibal Barca (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), bought as a yearling for £55,000 at the Orby Sale and who, like Raheen House, finished fourth in the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy. Three days after that run the colt became the second-top lot at the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale when sold for 500,000gns. He has subsequently won the G3 Gallinule S. for Joseph O'Brien.

Sam Sangster Bloodstock was also the name on the docket when the Oasis Dream (GB) colt foal who would become known as Native Trail (GB) went through the Arqana December Sale for €50,000. The agent smiles at the memory of this and says, “If Isaac Shelby can follow Native Trail's footsteps I would be a very happy man, although he's not in the National [Stakes], but the Dewhurst is very much on our minds at the moment.

“We thought an awful lot of him going to Newmarket but I knew they also thought a lot of the Godolphin horse [the runner-up Victory Dance].”

Sangster continues, “I think we're going to sit tight. Between myself, Sean [Levey, jockey] and Brian we all came to the conclusion that the fewer miles we put on his clock this year the better he will be for next year, and Sean did make a comment that he does just feel that little bit weak still. I know this sounds a little bit silly about a horse who has won a Group 2 and saw out the race well but he could really improve with time. We'll let the horse tell us; you can see a campaign for those type of horses, like the Champagne [Stakes, G2], though he would carry a three-pound penalty there, but it could be a likely stepping stone on the way to the Dewhurst.”

With a horse named after a former governor of Kentucky, a trip to this year's Breeders' Cup at Keeneland would also be rather appropriate.

As well as his association with Meehan at Manton, one of Sangster's older brothers, Ben, still has his own breeding operation on the estate, and it is one which was responsible for producing Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who finished two lengths ahead of Hannibal Barca when winning last year's Vertem Futurity. Another brother, Adam, runs the family's Swettenham Stud in Victoria, Australia.

“For me, when I was growing up in the industry, they were unbelievably helpful as a sounding board,” says Sangster of his half-siblings. “I lived in Australia for three years, so I spent a lot of time with Adam and he guided me in the direction of who I should learn from. Ben lives about ten minutes down the road from me, as does my brother Guy, and we speak a lot about what is going on, whether it's with our own horses or about the industry in general.”

He adds of Meehan, who runs one of two training establishments at Manton, as well as Martyn and Freddie Meade, “Brian is a fantastic trainer and he's got a fantastic team at Manton. I know he takes a lot of pride in what he does, and I'm very proud to be part of the team.”

Sangster's time in Australia was well spent with placements at Flemington and Randwick racecourses before a valuable stint working for bloodstock agent Peter Ford. “He's the one who took me under his wing. We travelled all around the sales, to Keeneland, Arqana, and obviously all the main Australian sales. It was really Peter that helped me get my eye in when analysing yearlings,” he says.

With the number of sales ever increasing, there's little time for let up, and even life with a young family has to be juggled.

Sangster says, “We've just had a baby girl six weeks ago so the night-time feed has been spent with the Arqana catalogue on the iPad in a dark room, flicking through it. At least I'm a few steps ahead anyway.”

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Family Values Place Sangster On Cusp Of Classic Year

Ben Sangster is not one to underestimate the influence of luck in this sport. But there is a lot to be said for people making their own, and having made most of the opportunities to come his way, luck is now shining kindly on his Swettenham Stud operation.

Years of cultivating one branch of a favoured family could be on the cusp of yielding Classic rewards in the form of Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), the current ante-post Derby favourite who was bred by Sangster out of Attire (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). An understanding of the mare and her family allied to the horse's upbringing on some of Ireland's best land ahead of joining Aidan O'Brien has undoubtedly aided luck in the emergence of Luxembourg as one of Europe's top 2-year-olds of 2021, a standing garnered by an unbeaten campaign that culminated with a resounding victory in the G1 Vertem Futurity at Doncaster.

Luck, however, has very much played its role in Sangster retaining co-ownership of Saffron Beach (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), the current Group 1 star of Jane Chapple-Hyam's Newmarket yard who was forced to miss her sale engagements as a young horse through injury.

Successful in last year's G1 Sun Chariot S. and G3 Atalanta S., Saffron Beach recently opened her 4-year-old campaign with a highly creditable fourth against colts in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan. It was a performance that suggested the filly had not only thrived from three to four years but also took her travelling well enough to open up the idea of further participation in other major international races down the line.

Before then, there is the prospect of Luxembourg putting his unbeaten record on the line in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, for which he is as short as 4/1 behind Native Trail (Fr) (Oasis Dream {GB}). Should he triumph, it would maintain a wonderful association between the Classic and the Sangster family that harks back to the involvement of his father Robert with the Vincent O'Brien-trained winners Lomond (Northern Dancer {Can}) and El Gran Senor (Northern Dancer). Robert Sangster also bred and owned the 1992 winner Rodrigo De Triano (El Gran Senor), who was trained at the family's Manton estate by Peter Chapple-Hyam.

“Luxembourg is from one of those families that is deep in black type that keeps expanding,” says Sangster. “It's a great Wildenstein line with proper Group 1 black type – there is Group 1 winner after Group 1 winner on the page, champions like Arcangues and Aquarelliste.

“It's a family that we have bought into several times over the years. There is a mare called Afrique Bleu Azur in there who I bought for my father. She was a Sagace mare and we sent her to Caerleon and out of that we bred Cape Verdi. Angara is another out of that family that we had. She was a very good mare that we raced, she won the Diana Stakes at Saratoga and the Beverly D. And then we also had her half-sister Altesse Imperiale.

“Then you come to Asnieres, a half-sister to Afrique Bleu Azur. She was another we bought out of the family and out of her we bred Forgotten Voice, a good horse. And later in life, she produced Attire, the dam of Luxembourg. So it's a family we have a lot of time for and one we've been lucky with.”

This remarkable family descends from Daniel Wildenstein's Listed Prix Omnium winner Almyre (Fr), a 1964-foaled daughter of Wild Risk (Fr) (Rialto {Fr}). Almyre left behind nine winners including Group 2 scorer Ashmore (Fr) (Luthier {Fr}) and the Group 2-placed Albertine (Fr) (Irish River {Fr}), herself the dam of Arcangues (Sagace {Fr}), who sprang an almighty 133/1 shock for Andre Fabre in the 1993 G1 Breeders' Cup Classic, and Group 3 winner Agathe (Manila), the dam of Aquarelliste (Fr) (Danehill).

Cape Verdi (Ire), foaled in 1995, was one of the first top-flight descendants of Almyre to be bred outside Wildenstein hands. Initially trained at Manton by Chapple-Hyam, she carried the Sangster colours to victory in the 1997 G2 Lowther S. before changing hands in a package to Godolphin, for whom she won the following year's 1,000 Guineas prior to a fruitless attempt against colts in the Derby.

As for Angara (GB) (Alzao) and Altesse Imperiale (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), they were out of Albertine's daughter Ange Bleu (Fr) (Alleged). Altesse Imperiale has left her own mark on the stud book as dam of the Group 1-placed Altruistic (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) for Swettenham Stud and Scout Stable LLC.

Minor winner Asnieres, born in 1992, was the sixth foal out of Albertine and a daughter of the 1985 Kentucky Derby winner Spend A Buck, a horse rarely seen in northern hemisphere pedigrees nowadays (for all he was a successful sire in Brazil). She foaled nine winners, of which Forgotten Voice (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), winner of the G3 Glorious S., and Listed scorer Australie (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) were the most accomplished.

Attire was not one of the winning nine, being placed three times in eight starts for David Wachman. However, she has swiftly made amends at stud.

Her second foal, Leo De Fury (Ire) (Australia {Ire}), won the 2020 G2 Mooresbridge S. for Jessica Harrington and remains in training while her third, Sense Of Style (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), came within a head of winning the Listed Staffordstown Stud S. as a 2-year-old and was Group 3-placed for Sangster and Joseph O'Brien last season. Luxembourg is her fifth foal and followed by a full-brother who sold for €1.2 million to MV Magnier at last year's Goffs Orby Sale. He is also in training with Aidan O'Brien.

“Attire, a sister to Forgotten Voice, was one of the last foals out of Asnieres and a beautiful yearling,” says Sangster. “We put her into training but she didn't quite live up to expectations.

“But three of her foals are now black type. Leo De Fury is a beautiful horse and he's still running. I had Sense Of Style with Joseph, she was a good filly who was placed in a few stakes races. She was covered recently by Camelot.

“Luxembourg was sold during the Covid yearling sales. He was a beautiful yearling – he was Lot 40 in Book 1 and MV Magnier bought him on behalf of a partnership [for 150,000gns]. I was pleased with that because it meant he was going to a very good hotel.

“Her yearling last year was another beautiful horse. He was maybe a bit stronger than Luxembourg and a great mover with great quality and a good colour.”

Attire also has a yearling sister to Luxembourg and is due to foal to Camelot later this spring.

He adds: “We have some mares at home but Attire resides at Coolmore. Land is such an important part of the jigsaw and Luxembourg came off one of Coolmore's satellite farms called Kilsheelan. Where these animals are reared is so important and the list of horses to have come off that farm is remarkable, it goes to show what great land – the Golden Vale – it sits on. And it's run by a wonderful, dedicated team of staff. I am indebted to the Magnier family for letting me board horses on such a wonderful farm.”

If the rearing of Luxembourg was a straightforward process, then the same can't be said for Saffron Beach. Bred by the China Horse Club out of Falling Petals (Ire) (Raven's Pass), the filly was purchased as a foal for 55,000gns through Liam Norris of Norris/Huntingdon. As a first-crop daughter of a Prix du Jockey Club winner in New Bay – who has subsequently emerged as a young sire of real note – from the immediate family of Cotai Glory (GB) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), Saffron Beach was undoubtedly an appealing commercial proposition. But then fate intervened.

“Liam Norris, who I regard as a great judge – he bought [Oaks winner] Dancing Rain as a yearling from me – bought Saffron Beach for me as a foal,” says Sangster. “But as a young horse, she had an injury in the paddock that meant we couldn't sell her at the yearling sales. We couldn't even take her to a 2-year-old sale. We ended up breaking her in very late, around April of her 2-year-old year.”

Saffron Beach missed not one but three sale engagements over the span of ten months, including in the Tattersalls July Sale as an unnamed 2-year-old.

“I had her here at home,” says Sangster. “It was during the Covid lockdown and my daughter was here as well. We have a couple of hunters here and the wife of my stud manager, who is an excellent horsewoman, would ride her out every day. They would go out with my daughter on a hunter, single file up the gallops, and that happened every day for about three months.

“It got to around June time and we thought it was then time for her to move on, and that was when she went to Jane's. It just goes to show you need luck in this game, and we got lucky as she should have gone to a sale where we would have most likely sold her.”

Carrying the colours of Sangster, son Ollie and James Wigan, Saffron Beach made a sparkling winning debut on Newmarket's Rowley Mile in late September 2020 before following up at the same course in the G2 Rockfel S. two weeks later. After running second on her 3-year-old return in the G3 Nell Gwyn S., she wasn't beaten far into second by Mother Earth (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) in the 1000 Guineas and although subsequently disappointing in the Oaks and G1 Falmouth S., bounced back to win the G3 Atalanta S. and G1 Sun Chariot S. in a testament to the skills of her trainer.

“She's a competitive filly who hates being headed,” says Sangster. “Mentally, she's very tough. She ran a formidable race at Meydan up against those colts. Hollie [Doyle] had her in a very good position and she ran a great race. She's come out really well from that. There is a nice programme for those middle-distance fillies and mares and she should be competitive.”

He adds: “Jane is a really super trainer. She leaves no stone unturned, she's a great communicator and she makes it fun. But most of all, she's an extremely capable trainer.”

Sangster deflects the credit for two such high-flying Group 1 performers to the skill of the people around them. But having been immersed in the sport since childhood, an innate instinct to do what's right for the animal is also surely at play.

His achievements as a breeder also includes the 2011 Classic winners Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and Roderic O'Connor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). There is also a potential dark horse for 2022 to look out for in Changingoftheguard (Ire), a Galileo colt out of Group 2 winner Lady Lara (Ire) (Excellent Art {GB}) who broke his maiden by six lengths for Aidan O'Brien at Dundalk on Friday.

Sangster also pinhooked the 1992 Derby winner Dr Devious (Ire) (Ahonoora {GB}) as a foal alongside Paul Shanahan, while more recently he served a six-year stint as chairman of The National Stud in Newmarket. All the while, the historic Manton Estate near Marlborough, Wiltshire, which was purchased by Robert Sangster in 1984, remains at the heart of the family's involvement, notably as the current base for trainers Brian Meehan and Martyn Meade.

Indeed, the legacy of Robert Sangster, a pioneer of the sport who was so instrumental in the rise of Coolmore as an international force, continues to stretch across the globe.

Ben's brother Adam Sangster is at the helm of Swettenham Stud in Victoria, Australia, which stands six stallions including the wildly popular Toronado (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) and Group 1 globe-trotter Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Younger brother Sam, meanwhile, is a successful syndicator and agent who hit a high point last autumn when his Hannibal Barba (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), a 55,000gns yearling purchase, ran fourth in the G1 Vertem Futurity. That colt was sold not long after for 500,000gns.

Nor is it likely to be long until we see the name of Ben's son Ollie as a trainer in his own right.

“Ollie is working with Joseph O'Brien at the moment and will embark on a training career sooner rather than later,” says Sangster. “He's worked with some excellent people – David Hayes in Australia, Charlie Hills over here and Wesley Ward – so he's had an excellent grounding. He's enjoying it and not afraid of hard work.”

That recipe of enjoyment and hard work has been a theme of the Sangsters' success over the years, and with Luxembourg and Saffron Beach primed to take high order again this season, such an approach looks poised to reap yet further rewards.

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